New Pony in Town Tonight
by flarati
Summary: A wildly famous unicorn mare Diamond Sparkle has filled the recently vacated position of Royal Student to Princess Celestia, and the Princess has sent Diamond Sparkle to Ponyville to live during Princess Twilight Sparkle's stay there. Princess Celestia instructs Twilight and the rest of the Mane Six to befriend Diamond Sparkle, and convince her to stop hiding her amazing secret.


**NOTE: **Since I can't write this in the description, WHICH IS A DESCRIPTION OF THE STORY, NOT MY TECHNICAL JUNK, I have to throw out something: sorry about the cover picture, it's supposed to be Diamond Sparkle and her pet bird Parry, but half of Diamond's face is cut off and you can't see her horn. Sorry about this brief note, please enjoy reading New Pony in Town Tonight! (Or, if it's just my profile picture, sorry about that also.)

"Hey! Twilight!" Rainbow Dash zoomed up to Twilight Sparkle from a cloud she had been perching on, waiting for a glimpse of Twilight. Twilight had been on her way for a bite of lunch.

"Where're ya going, Twilight?" Dash asked Twilight. Twilight smiled. "Off to the café for some lunch," she said.

"Well, I just heard about a NEW PONY that's arrived in town. Her name's Diamond Sparkle, and she's amazing! She's a unicorn, and she came from Canterlot, and she's one of Celestia's personal students, too!" Dash said excitedly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did I just hear you say that she's also a royal student?" Twilight asked. Dash nodded. "I figure, maybe since you're a princess now, Celestia's picked another pony for your recently vacated position of Royal Student?" Dash gave her Cheesy Grin.

Twilight was not amused. "If she's been sent to Ponyville, what is she supposed to do? Does anypony know? Take a message please, Spike." Spike nodded, jolted from his little daydream. He whipped out a parchment and a quill from nowhere. Rainbow Dash gave him a strange look.

Twilight cleared her throat. "Dear Princess Celestia," she said.

_It has recently come to my attention that you have taken on a new royal student, by the name of Diamond Sparkle. I don't question your motives for this, however I must inquire what she is doing in Ponyville, and why I wasn't introduced to her while I was in Canterlot not two days ago. Please excuse me for any rudeness, princess, but I would like to know what she is doing in Ponyville. That is, if she has any special needs I need to get ready. And I would so like to know more about her, but from your standpoint, if it is not too intrusive. I also hope to get to know her on her own terms. If she has anything uncomfortable that she would not like anypony else to know, please do not tell me, as I do not wish to intrude upon her privacy._

_Your fellow princess,_

_Twilight Sparkle_

"I still can't get used to saying 'fellow princess' instead of 'faithful student' like Princess Celestia told me to," Twilight said. "Send the message please, Spike."

In one practiced motion, Spike rolled the paper up into a scroll, sealed it with a ribbon and wax, and, using a plume of magic, sparkly green dragonfire to turn the scroll to magic energy and send it to Princess Celestia.

"There. I just hope we get a prompt reply," Twilight said.

"Well, in the meantime, c'mon, Twilight! Let's go meet Diamond Sparkle," Rainbow Dash said. Twilight smiled a little. "Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to meet her before finding out more about her," she said.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" Rainbow Dash cried, pulling Twilight into the air with her. "Wait! Hold up!" It was getting cold outside, and Rainbow Dash had boots, earmuffs, and a scarf on. Twilight pulled on a scarf, boots, and a winter hat, and Spike put on a scarf and boots. He hopped onto Twilight's back, and the three of them shot off into the sky, following Rainbow Dash.

"Where is this Diamond Sparkle?" Twilight asked Rainbow Dash as they soared past the Ponyville train station. "Isn't she at the train station?"

"Well, she was, but I couldn't find you for so long, so she's probably at La Hotelier," Dash replied. Twilight nodded. La Hotelier had just been finished last year and was one of the most prestigious hotels in Equestria. It was also the only place visitors could stay in Ponyville.

Which reminded Twilight. "Is she staying here?" she asked. "I'll have to go back to Canterlot soon. She can use the library if she's promises not to destroy the books or the tree," she added.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I don't know much about her other than the fact that she's a veteran Wonderbolt. And she's only our age! She's been in flying camp for so long, she's basically never even been on the ground!"

"Never?" asked Twilight, surprised. "Well then how does she know Princess Celestia?"

"She won the last Young Fliers competition," Rainbow Dash replied. "You know, the one after the one Rarity tried to win?"

"Yeah, that one," Twilight said. "Why didn't I hear of it then?"

"I told you, I don't know," Rainbow Dash said. "You'd have to wait for Celestia's letter to come back."

Twilight sighed. "She's holding a dinner for the teachers and students association tonight," she said. "It might take her a while to read it and get a reply back to me."

Rainbow shrugged. "Hey, there she is now!" She angled herself towards the ground to touch down. Twilight followed her, and that was when she saw the mare Diamond Sparkle.

She was a pretty turquoise pony, and her horn was the same color as her coat. Her light dark blue tail and mane were carefully brushed out, and her mane was brushed to the side and put in a loose ponytail that lay on her left shoulder. She wore diamond earrings in the shape of two hearts, one on top of the other. It suited her very well. She had big brown eyes that shone as she talked to the group of ponies that had assembled around her, and a small yellow bird with a pointy orange beak and claws and big, playful eyes flapped around her.

Diamond Sparkle tastefully wore a blue ruffly skirt with a line of white across the hemline of the ruffles and a silvery-white wool scarf looping around the middle of her torso in a stylish wraparound and fur boots, with a delicate blue winter hat. She looked to be a fashionable pony, Twilight thought, even if she wore her scarf in a strange way.

"Look! Rarity's here!" Rainbow Dash said as they went into the thick of the crowd of ponies.

"Rarity?" Twilight said. Lo and behold, Rarity herself was right up there in the front, saying: "Oh, Miss Diamond Sparkle, however did you come up with that way of wrapping your scarf around you?"

Diamond Sparkle smiled. "Just call me Diamond," she said. "What's your name, darling?" she asked Rarity. "Rarity, owner of Carousel Boutique, and professional dress designer and sewer, at your service," Rarity replied with a flourish.

"Well, Rarity, I figure, if I'm going to win another year of Miss Canterlot, I might as well stay warm while doing it," Diamond Sparkle said. "And as my nice warm woolly scarf is so cozy and soft, I figure that I could wrap the scarf around me for more warmth. You see, I get very cold, 'cause my coat's never grown right and it's very thin," she said.

"It looks beautiful and groomed, though," protested some pony. Diamond Sparkle beamed. "Oh, you're all too kind," she said. "But it's getting quite late, and I have to rest. Thank you all for your kindness, but I'm afraid I'll have to dismiss you all and see you tomorrow morning." Everybody, not including Rarity and Rainbow Dash, went off to their respective places.

"Twilight! Rainbow Dash!" Rarity said. "You just missed Diamond Sparkle! She's going into her hotel room now," she added.

"We're going to go talk to her," Twilight said. "Welcome her to Ponyville and such."

"But Twilight!" Rarity said, sounding mortified. "We are talking about Miss Diamond Sparkle, who was Miss Canterlot for two years in a row! She's running again this year, and she's sure to win! We can't just walk in on her and demand that she put aside an unfair portion of time for us," she said.

"As much as I would hate to intrude upon her privacy, I think as a princess of Canterlot dwelling in Ponyville it is part of my royal duties to welcome new ponies to Ponyville," Twilight said, trotting up to the front of La Hotelier, which Diamond Sparkle had just disappeared into.

No sooner had Twilight said this than Pinkie Pie came springing out of nowhere, saying: "Hey, hey Twilight! Can I join the welcoming committee, too?"

"Sure, Pinkie Pie," Twilight said cheerily. "The more the merrier."

"So I said, 'Whaddaya mean by that, Applebloom?' and she told me that the fruit bats have moved on! So thank you, Fluttershy, and hey! Twilight! What're we all hangin' around for?" Applejack came up talking to Fluttershy.

"We're about to go into La Hotelier to welcome the new arrival to Ponyville, Diamond Sparkle," Rarity said with a flip of her mane. "The fashionable Miss Canterlot for two years in a row herself!"

"Can-can we come along?" said Fluttershy softly. "I've always wanted to meet Miss Diamond Sparkle," Fluttershy added, "because she donates lots of her prize money and her enormous wealth to PETA."

"What's pita?" asked Pinkie Pie. "That sounds like a type of bread! Or a celebration. Or a kind of special cake frosting! Froooosting," Pinkie Pie said, going into a sort of dreamy-eyed reverie. She drooled a little and slurped up some of it with one big pink tongue.

"It's a nonprofit organization, Ponies for the Ethical Treatment of Animals," Fluttershy replied. "They protect animals' habitats and preserve endangered species." Fluttershy then blushed. "I also want to meet her little bird pet. I've never seen any bird like it," she added.

"And I wanna meet her 'cause of her contributions for the research towards apples with better genetics, which may lead to regular apples becoming larger naturally and without any chemicals or expensive fertilizers," Applejack said with a small grimace.

"I don't know, we don't want to crowd her or anything," Twilight said.

"Don't worry so much, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said. "I'm sure a WONDERBOLT will be fine with meeting a fan like me," she said.

"Hey, wait," Twilight said. "How is she a Wonderbolt if she hasn't got any wings?" Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I thought about that, and I don't think anybody knows. Hey, did you know there was another pony just like her, a veteran by now, who looked just like Diamond Sparkle? Her name was Emerald Sparkle, and ponies say that she was Diamond Sparkle's twin sister."

"What happened to her?" asked Rarity.

"She disappeared after graduating from Wonderbolts," Rainbow Dash said, getting a scary-storyteller kind of feel about her on. "And nobody's seen her since. Spitfire says she was the exact twin of Diamond Sparkle, but she disappeared, never to be seen again."

"Wow! Great story, Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly. Rarity, however, didn't seem share the same enthusiasm. "That sounds awful," she said. "Poor Diamond lost her sister!"

"Diamond? You're calling the most influential young pony in all of Equestria by her first name?" Applejack said. Rarity hrumphed. "She said I could," Applejack shrugged. "Suit yerself," she said.

"What are we waiting for, then?!" Pinkie Pie said, bouncing around a bit. "Let's go!"

"Alright then," Twilight said nervously. "I hope Miss Sparkle's OK with all of us coming into her hotel room to welcome her," she said.

"Don't worry, it'll be a breeze," Rainbow Dash said.

"I hope you're right," Twilight said.


End file.
